I cant believe that they actually went back for the couple! You are told time and time again what time to be back at the ship! Not only that but they tell you the consequence, you miss the ship, you find transportation to the next port! adn its Castaway Cay, good luck, because theres only oNE way to get there, Disney Magic!
I went on a 7 day one last year, (July 7-14, 2001) and it was a very eventful cruise!
While leaving St Thomas, i watched a family running towards the ship as it was leavin port. SORRY! you missed it! Actaully, they werent the only ones, another couple missed it too.
In this case they did allow a water taxi to bring the people out, and to the ship, and they were able to climb up a rope ladder and back on!
The reason that they cant wait around for people is that we were told that they could be fined up to $1,000 for every minute that they are in port late! if your 10 minutes late that jsut cost DCL $10,000!!!!!!!!
Hope that helps!